Crossover



T. J. SCANLAN.

CROSSOVER.

APPLICATION man SEPT. 9. 1918.

1,327,882. nted Jan. 13., 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

T. J, SCANLAN. GROSSOVER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 9' 191B.

Patented Jan.13,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- BY I rromvns UNITED STATES PATENT orriou;

THOMAS J. SGANLAN', OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

CROSS'OVER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. SGANLAN, a subject of the King of England, and resident of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Crossovers, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates in general to a portion of a track construction where one track extends at an angle to another track and specifically relates to a shiftable, track-level cross-over in such a railway track construction. While the physical embodiment ofthe invention selected for illustration may constitute an element of track construction independent of any particular type of coacting switch, for the purpose of this disclosure, the device illustrated may be considered as an attachment designed to be cooperatively associated with the standard form of switch illustrated and one of the distinctive characterizing features of this invention is that the device is applicable to any switch control which includes a movable part.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a simple and easily actuated device for selectively providing a continuity of tread surface at the cross-over for either the main line track or for the siding track and at the same time to maintain a continuity of track level at the cross-over and to provide, as far as possible. the same conditions relative to ease of riding, minimum wear on the rolling stock and safety at the cross-over, as exists along the lengths of the unbroken rail.

Heretofore, attempts have been made to provide for a swinging, level track section, movable from a position alining with the main rails into a position alining with the siding rails and the reverse, but these sec tions have necessarily been massive in design and can be handled only with difficulty, especially where the movement is retarded by the formation of ice or ballast caught longitudinally of the inner main track rail between these parts. i

Accordingly it is among the other objects of the invention to provide a simple device which may be positively set in either of its alining positions under all service conditions; which can be .moved positively and quickly from a locked position alin'edwith one rail into a locked position alined with a of-the invention illustrated is shown in connection with standard track rails, including the angularly disposed rail and which, when in either of its set posltions may provide Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 13, 1920.

Application filed September 9,1918. Serial No. 253,147.

' requisite strength and at the same time provide a construction which can be formed from standard stock and with the smallest number of. special parts and without the necessity for any extensive special machin- Still another object of the invention is to provide in connection with a device of the class described, a simple form of control which may be actuated from a single rod and so organized as to insure first the unlocking of shiftable section holding means,

' followed in proper time sequence by a shifting of the shiftable section and a final looking of the section in its shifted position.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawings and in part will be more fully set forth 'in.the following particular description of one form of mechanism embodying my in-v 'vention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings v Figures '1 and 2 respectively show a section of a rail at the jointure of the main line trackand the siding track; Fig. 1 being a plan view at the switch portion showing the connection of standard switch equipment with the control rod of a preferred embodiv ment of my invention; Fig. 2 being a plan view at the cross-over showing a preferred embodiment of the invention installed there in and actuated from the rod shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken and taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 looking 'inthe direction indicated by the arrows;

and

-Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on the lines 44 of Figs. 2

and 3.

In the accompanyingdrawinszs, the form each of these inner rails.

service main rails 10 and 11 shown to extend straight across the cross-over and siding rails 12 and 13, which extend at an angle to the main rails as is usual with constructions of this character. The outer rails 11 and 13 are continuous through the cross-over and the inner rails 10 and 12 are interrupted at the cross-over to provide a rail gap 14 in The rails are mounted upon and fastened to ties 15 and sleepers 16 as is usual in track constructions.

The new form of cross-over attachment illustrated includes a Hat thin. steel bed plate 17 extending across the gaps 1 1 with opposite ends thereof underlapping the ends of the inner rails 10 and 12, and fastened in place as is usual with such devices. A single plate is shown in the preferred form for this permits the proper spacing of the elements carried by the plate independent of the position of the ties therebeneath, but it is an obvious modification to provide transverse slide bars on certain of the ties, on the plate itself, or three wide plates may be provided,

- one beneath each of the stops and for the shiftable parts of the frog hereinafter described. The ends of the inner rails are brought together as close as possible to minimize the length of the gaps in the rails and preferably the portion of the inner rails adjacent the pivoted end of the section 18 is formed of an integral V-casting 19 which can be rigidly secured to the plate 17. The section 18 constitutes a frog rail with one end enlarged to form a wide-space, supporting hub 20 demountably pivoted to the plate 17 by means of the pivot pin 21. The opposite end of the frog rail forms a right angle butt end 22 and the parts are so de-' signed that when the frog rail is in alinement :with either the main rail 10, as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, or in alinement with the crossover rail 12, as indicated in dotted lines in this figure, this frog rail will coact to form a continuity of tracks with little, if any break at the joint. In this disclosure the construction will be so described, but it is of course understood that under some conditions it may be necessary to allow for heat .expansion of the parts and for this purpose,

it may be necessary, to provide a small gap between the several parts as is usual along the length of the straight tracks. Again, this expansion may be otherwise taken up .as by the use of expansion joints now in general use in whlch case the desired abutment of the rail at the frog cross-over is retained. v

For the purpose of preventlng vertlcal movement ofthe frog section at at its'free end, a stop device is provided which includes an arc L-plate 23, the flange 24: of which fits within a groove 25 on the Web of the'outer end of frog section 18. The plat-e is provided with a pair-of stops 26 and .27

sitions of the frog section with an opening extending through which opening is a shiftable stop 28, designed to engage the frog section on the side opposite the side engaged by the fixed stop. The shiftable stop 28 constitutes one end of a longitudinally extending lever 29, fulcrumed on a bracket 30, depending from the underside of the plate 17. The lever is so proportioned as to fall into rail locking position when free of the controlling mechanism, hereinafter described.

A cam plate 31 is shdably mounted in hangers 32 and is guided for movement beneath the lever 29 in a direction transversely of the length of the track. This cam plate is frusto-triangular with a flat portion 33 for holdingthe stop 28 in inoperative position, depressed below the level of the frog section while this frog section is being shifted from one to the other of its track tion 38. A reach rod 39 connects the arm 37 with the frog section 18 and the parts are so arranged that a movement of the bell-crank lever 36 will act to shift the rod 3 1 and with it the cam plate a distance equal to the length of the slot at the 0011- nection 38 followed by the shifting of the rod 39 for a distance equal to the length of the cam top 33.

The other arm 40 of the bell-crank lever 35 extends substantially parallel to the length of the sleeper 16 and away from the adjacent track. A switch mechanism control rod 11 is pivotally connected to the le ver arm A0 and extends toward the switch shifting mechanism with which this device is designed to be associated.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a conventional form of switch control mechanism, which mechanism includes the laterally extending throw rod 42 for actuating the switchpoints 12c 13 from a control box The end of the control rod/l1 opposite the end connected to "the bell-crank lever 35 issimilarly connected to an oppositely disposed bell-crank lever #15 pivotedto the top of one of the sIeepers16 Ladjacent the switch control mechanism. :The

levers?) is loosely connected to the actuating rod 42 through a link connection 46 'designed so as to be readily connected to the rod without in any vwaymodifying this A slotted 95 crank lever 45 and control rod 41 to swing the bell-crank lever 35 from the position shown in Fig. 2 in the direction indicated by the arrow. By reference to the disclosure in Fig. 4 it will be noted that the first action will be a shifting of the cam 31 into position under the free end of the lever 29 causing the same to rise up the inclined side of the cam and thus depress the stop 28 below the top of the plate 17 and clear of the path of the shiftable frog section. By this time the pin in the pivot slot connection 38 has reached the limit of its slot and the continued movement of the bell-crank lever 35 will then act through the arm 37 and rod 39 to shift the frog section from the full line position into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2 and into engagement with the fixed stop 27. As the frog section moves into its final position guided by the stop device 23, the elevated cam surface 33 has passed from beneath the lever 29 thus permitting the lever to drop into position to project the stop 28 into rail section holding position when the rail has cleared the opening in the plate 17. The rail section is thus locked automatically in its shifted position and the siding track is continuous. It is understood that a reversing movement of the control mechanism will first act through the cam to move the movable stop into an inoperative position followed by a shifting of the frog section into its main track alining position and the final action of the frog section will be followed by the automatic locking of the frog section in position.

By means of a device of this character a smooth riding surface is provided across the cross-over for both the main and siding tracks. As both ends of the rail section are held against vertical movement, any hammering on the end of the rail as the train wheels pass from one frog rail to the other is eliminated. Pivoting the frog section at one end minimizes the necessary length, thus insuring a minimum of resistance to its movement by ice and ballast, which might collect 011 the plate 17.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. An article of manufacture designed to constitute an attachment to standard movable switch actuating mechanism, said attachment comprising a single frog section with one end enlarged to form a widespace supporting hub constituting a pivotal con nection for one end of the frog section, means for shifting said section into either one of two track alining positions, a single locking devicehaving a vertical movement engaging the shiftable section for locking the same in either of said positions selectively on oppos-itesides thereof, a delayed connectionbetween said shifting means and said vertically movable locking device for delaying the shifting of the section until the locking device is in an inoperative position, and a single control member spaced from the frog section for actuating said locking device and shifting means, said con trol provided with means for connecting the same readily with the standard movable switch actuating mechanism.

2. An article of manufacture designed to constitute an attachment to a standard movable switch actuating mechanism, said attachment comprising a supporting plate, a single frog section pivoted at one end, said section designed to be shifted into either one of two track alining positions, stops for limiting the movement of said section, a pivoted arm designed to be mounted for movement about a vertical axis, a connecting rod between said arm and said frog section, a lever pivoted beneath the plate with an end thereof extending through the plate to constitute a stop for engaging the section on a side opposite to the side engaged by either of said fixed stops, a cam operatively connected to said lever to move the stop into an inoperative position, a pinand slot connection between said arm and cam and a single control rod connected to said arm for actuating the cam and for shifting said section, said rod provided with means for connecting the same to said standard movable switch actuating mechanism whereby the attachment may be utilized in connection with standard switch equipment. I

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a supporting plate, a rail section having one end pivoted to the plate, means engaging the rail section to shift the same to and from a rail alining position, a stop for limiting the movement of the rail section in said position, a movable stop adapted to extend through the plate in the path of movement of the rail section and designed to coact with said fixed stop to lock the rail section in said position, a cam control for said movable stop operatively connected therewith for moving the same into an inoperative position clear of the path of said rail section thereby to permit the rail section to be shifted, a single control member for shifting said cam control and a delayed acting connection between said control member and said cam control for causing the section shifting means to function while the movable stop is held by the cam control in an inoperative position.

4:. In a device of the class described, the combination of a supporting plate, a rail section having one end pivoted to the plate, means engaging the rail section to shift the same to and from a rail alining position, a stop for limiting the movement of the rail section in said position, a movable stop adapted to extend through the plate, in the path of movement of the rail section and designed to coact with said fixed stop to lock the rail section in said position, a cam control for said movable stop operatively connected therewith for moving the same into an inoperative position clear of the path of said rail section thereby to permit the rail section to be shifted.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of a bell-crank lever, a rail section locking device connected to one arm of said lever, an actuating rod connected to theother arm of said lever, a slotted arm pivotally mounted to have a movement about the axis of movement of the bell-crank lever, a rail section connected to said slotted arm to be shifted thereby and a pin and slot connection between said lever and said slotted arm whereby the actuation of said rod will cause the locking device to function after the rail section has been shifted by the slotted arm.

6.. In a device of the class described, the combination of a pivoted frog section, adapted 'to be shifted into two positions, fixed stops for limiting the movement of the section in opposite directions between said stops, a lever movable to and from a position holding the section in engagement with either of said fixed stops, and a cam acting on said lever to move the same into a position to permit the shifting of the frog section, said cam including means for holding'the lever in an inoperative position during the shifting of the frog section.

7. In a device of the class described, the

combination of a pivoted frog section, adapted to be shifted into two positions, fixed stops for limiting the movement of the section in opposite directions between said stops, a lever movable to and from a position holding the section in engagement with either of said fixed stops and a cam acting on said lever to move the same into a position to permit the shifting of the frog section.

8. In a device of the class described, the combination of a fixed rail, a support underlappingan end of said rail, a floating frog section with one end pivoted to said support at the end of said fixed rail and locking means carried by the support at the movable end of the frog section for securing the same in alinement with said fixed rail.

9. In a device of the class described, the combination with a supporting plate rovided with a stop opening, a pair of xed stops disposed on opposite sides of said opening, a movable stop adapted 'to extend through said opening to hold a shiftable rail section between the same and either one of said fixed stops and a cam control for said movable stop.

10. In a shiftable frog cross-over, the combination with a supporting plate, amain rail and a siding rail extending at an angle to each other and interrupted at the crossover to form a gap in each rail, the ends of both rails at the gap being disposed on the supporting plate, shiftable means for connecting the ends of either the main or the siding rails, said means including a frog section pivoted at one end to the'supporting plate and having its other end adapted to be shifted into alinement with the main or the siding rail, means for shifting the frog section and locking means carried by the supporting plate for securing the frog section in either of its shifted positions.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 11th day of July, A. D., 1918.

THOMAS J. SCANLAN. 

